JAPAN: ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER ATTENDS TOKYO FILM PREMIERE OF HIS LATEST MOVIE "COLLATERAL DAMAGE" POSTPONED BECAUSE OF SEPTEMBER TERROR ATTACKS

Record ID: 392595

  • Title: JAPAN: ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER ATTENDS TOKYO FILM PREMIERE OF HIS LATEST MOVIE "COLLATERAL DAMAGE" POSTPONED BECAUSE OF SEPTEMBER TERROR ATTACKS
  • Date: 6th March 2002
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (MARCH 7, 2002) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCHWARZENEGGER SAYING: "There was such a desire from the people to see movies that have action and violence because like I said, they want to see and look at those movies as an escape. People like to sit in a room and turn off their mind and not to deal with reality and just escape into another world and tha
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NARITA AND TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABXBTHCIXQ7VRAK85G4CNJZI4A
  • Story Text: Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the Japanese capital Tokyo on Thursday (March 07) to attend the premiere of his latest film
    "Collateral Damage" - a movie held back from its scheduled release in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States.
    "Collateral Damage" was originally scheduled to be released on October 5, both in the United States and Japan, but the start of the movie was postponed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
    The movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a vengeful Los Angeles fire-fighter who fights against leftist guerrillas in Colombia has grossed 15.2 million U.S. dollars.
    In Japan, the film is set to hit theatres on April 20 but the premiere of the movie about fireman Gordy Brewer played by Schwarzenegger who seeks vengeance against Colombian revolutionaries for killing his family in the bombing was held on Thursday (March 7) in Tokyo.
    The muscular actor arrived in Japan the day before the movie premiere in his private jet and was greeted by cheering fans and journalists at the airport.
    He spoke to reporters about his movie in a news conference ahead of the premiere. "When I took my children to school (after I saw the attack on TV), my wife mentioned to me 'do you think you can forget about "Collateral Damage" for now? I would not come out because of such similarities.' That's when I first started thinking about that there are similarities.
    Because first when I saw it (the attack) I didn't think about my movie at all. I just thought about what happened and that's when I called Warner Brothers, right after, from the car and asked for a meeting in order to postpone the movie. And that was all decided to do so on that day," said Schwarzenegger of the decision to delay the release of the film.
    He also defended criticism that the violent characteristic of his action-packed films begets more violence and also that the movie was not meant to stereotype a certain people. "There was such a desire from the people to see movies that have action and violence because like I said, they want to see and look at those movies as an escape.
    People like to sit in a room and turn off their mind and not to deal with reality and just escape into another world and that what those action movies and those kind of violent movies bring to people as entertainment. I don't think anything will change there because we know there was no al-Qaeda or Taliban that did any of that because they saw movies that were made in Hollywood. So there's no relationship," Schwarzenegger added.
    Asked if the movies should be less violent in light of the September 11 attacks, Schwarzenegger said there would be no change as people still want to see such types move movies as they provide entertainment and an escape from the real world.
    "There was such a desire from the people to see movies that have action and violence because like I said, they want to see and look at those movies as an escape. People like to sit in a room and turn off their mind and not to deal with reality and just escape into another world and that what those action movies and those kind of violent movies bring to people as entertainment. I don't think anything will change there because we know there was no al-Qaeda or Taliban that did any of that because they saw movies that were made in Hollywood.
    So there's no relationship," he said.
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